A story can lead the general public to a false conclusion by playing on ideas that are widely believed, but false. When these ideas are challenged, they can be seen for being absurd. The greatest of these unchallenged assumptions is that Arabs are the natives of Israel and that Jews are an occupying power. There is a wealth of material to show the low population levels of "Palestine" before the first Aliya of the 1880's. Further to this, there is also no shortage of reports about the terrible condition of the land. By not challenging this false assumption, we ignore our own 1800 year struggle to regain control of our homeland, and allow others to continue to believe that the Arabs who invaded our land are the natives.
Another unchallenged assumption is that Israel is the "Goliath" and the Palestinians are the "David" of the current conflict. The world loves to cheer the underdog and this distortion always robs Israel of world support. The Palestinians are Arabs and are proud of this. They are represented in the Arab League and have been supported heavilly by their Arab brothers in wars, political actions and economic boycotts against Israel. Arab nations give billions of dollars in economic aid to Palestinians. The 4 million Jews of Israel have 1 million fellow Arab citizens as well as 3 million Palestinians neighbors and are surrounded by 22 Arab countries. All up, it is 200 million Arabs against 4 million Jews. Further to this, most Muslim countries also support the Palestinians. There are 1.4 billion Muslims in the world and only 13 million Jews. The David and Goliath Assumption is riddiculous when looked at seriously.
There are many uchallenged assumptions. These can be found by looking at any of the pro Israel faq sheets or articles about the myths of the Arab/Israeli conflict. |
